Commentary on popular culture and society, from a (mostly) psychological perspective

Friday, December 01, 2006

Pop Rock

What can I say, I am a sucker for pop rock; over the years I have tried to keep this to myself because I have been made fun of for this "fetish" by everyone who I let in on my dirty little secret. In my personal and professional life, I have a love of the complex, offbeat and unusual, but when it comes to musical taste, my ear leans towards those songs with the most mass appeal and mainstream sound; I love boy bands, teenybopper singers and ballads. So you can imagine how happy I was when Columbia records sent Glenn and me some music CD's to review, with the majority being pop music. I picked out a couple of CD's to listen to while I surfed the internet and was fairly pleased with the choices I heard. I will tell you about two of the CD's although I doubt either of the musicians would appreciate being called a "boy band" or teenybopper and neither one is--certainly not Five for Fighting, who appeals to an adult audience.

First up was Five for Fighting's CD, Two Lights, which I found to be an incredible combination of good lyrics, wonderful melodies and great vocals. Usually on any given CD, there will be a number of songs I will skip over, be bored by or plain not like, but with this album, each tune was remarkable and I noticed a war or soldier's theme in a few of the songs. For instance, the first song of the album, "Freedom Never Cries" has some interesting lyrics: "I never loved the soldier until there was a war or thought about tomorrow 'til my baby hit the floor, I Only talk to God when somebody's about to die, I Never cherished Freedom, Freedom never cries." I wasn't surprised to read in an interview with John Ondrasik that "'Two Lights' was inspired by a conversation with a Vietnam vet and his son, who was going back to Iraq for his second tour. It illuminated to me the sacrifice families make for our way of life." Ondraskik also stated that he spoke to many people when researching "Freedom Never Cries" including Tom Ridge, the Ex-Head of Homeland Security. Interestingly, Five for Fighting's song Superman served somewhat as a theme song for America following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Next up, I listened to John Mayer's Continuum which starts out with the popular song, "Waiting on the World to Change." I loved the tune which is catchey, straightforward and simple; I hear it often on the radio and like it fairly well. Not sure if I like the lyrics much but heck, most songs, like most art, I just invent my own interpretation of what I think it means to me--regardless of what the artist wants me to come away with. There are other good songs in Continuum including "Stop this Train" that deals with growing into adulthood. "So scared of growing getting older, I'm only good at being young, So I play a numbers game, To find a way to say that life has just begun." I think all of us can identify at some level with the speeding train of life but Mayer's lyrics and amazing vocals can help the journey. Other songs like "Bold as Love" and "Belief" are just fun because they include some really great guitar playing. I was surprised to see that like me, Mayer has had a problem with cardiac arrythimias and subsequent panic attacks. I guess that's where he gets the introspection.

Well, that is some of the music I am listening to these days and enjoying. I hope my readers are not too put off by the fact that I like pop music and will still respect me in the morning.

Dr. H, I confess to a love of pretty much the same thing, with 80s New Wave and 70s Classic and Progressive Rock thrown in. Motown too.

Boy bands! Bring back BSB (but not the latest dreary stuff). Was just dancing to and singing along with the Spice Girls and laughing at myself.

Anyone scrolling thru my iPod would think I'm schizo...I have Teena Marie next the Jennifer Warnes next to Pet Shop Boys next to Clapton next to Genesis next to Moody Blues next to John Mayer. It has to be melodic with good harmonies, interesting chord progressions, great beat, soaring voices, and I might notice the lyrics after about 5 years (took me 2 decades to actually hear the mysognism in "Under My Thumb."

I don't know if this qualifies as pop rock, but I've been listening to a lot of The Killers, The Decemberists, TV on the Radio, British Sea Power, Phoenix, The Fray, and Futureheads. Check 'em out. Please don't tell me you've been listening to Hillary Duff or Lindsay Lohan, I think I'd have to boycott Instapundit (please don't make me!)

Interesting that you mentioned this. I read Glenn's comments and was gonna be pretty impressed if you actually liked System of a Down. And that sure ain't pop. So, I assume he just meant you liked these two you mentioned.

No. I never admit what I like either. I just tell people I like the same corny music they are ashamed of liking. If you know a "cool" person long enough, you'll find some Cory Hart or something hiding out in the back of their collection. I say to them "Get some balls and break out the Barry Manilow already!"

I'm really loving Five for Fighting. Finally somebody popular with talent and lyrics.

About two years ago the Jayhawks made a great album called "Rainy Day Music" (not a song on it that I skip).

To echo Anonymous, you must pick up the Futureheads News and Tributes -- and listen particularly to "Skip to the End," "Burnt" and "Favor for Favors."

In my view, the Brits makes the best and most inventive pop music -- a hard genre to execute well. Lately I have been listening to The Kooks Inside In Inside Out. The song "Ooh La" should be one of those great catchy songs that are perfect for AM radio play yet are truly authentic unpretentious pop.

Another great Brit (actually Scot) pop ban is Dogs Die in Hot Cars. And of course, the hot UK band of note now -- Snow Patrol

But of course there are great American pop bands/artists. The Shins. Pete Yorn. Crystal Skulls. Nada Surf.

I can go on and on.

I am convinced now that we are in a Golden Age of Rock/Pop/Indie music. Never has there been so much great music, of such high quality, being recorded.

I think you should really check out Bob Dylans-"Modern Times" I think it is some of his best work in a while. A nice collection of blues and root rock, If you'll listen to it, I'll try out the Five For Fighting.

I think you should be proud of your musical tastes. Or at least, not ashamed. The punk/ska/goth/alternative fanbases have enough ego in storage that you can probably steal some for yourself and they won't even notice.

I say this, of course, as a person who has gone to Russian language sites and begged for "a Russian group that isn't TATU but sounds like Britney Spears did in 1997."

But hey, at least Britney was making some concession to wearing pants back in 1997!

(Yes, yes, it was a marginal concession, but at least she still generally wore pants when she went clubbing...)

Just Google "britney spears no pants". It's not a terribly revealing photo by paparazzi standards but it is very, very funny. I should like to add that my take on the Menage a Spears in no way reflects my politics on anything.

Wow! Exact opposite.In my early teens my only refuge from my sisters "Ultimate Spinich" was top 40 pop radio. By serendipitious default of Columbia Recorrd and Tape Club I discovered Walter Carlos. This opened the door for a comprehension of complex juxtaposition (music,math,electronics,sociology,psycology)vs. the merely complicated. I had to conceal this "hobby" from my peers of course.

I'm big into heavy metal myself so I won't bother you much with my music, however do check out Dream Theater. They released a 20th anniversary live CD and DVD called Score that will absolutely ruin you. Rent the DVD. Watch it. If you're not amazed I will personally come over and do whatever demeaning thing you can come up with.

Oh, and the Instapundit mentions ya'll got one of the new System Of A Down albums. AaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhI don't think that's your kinda music. I'll gladly take it off your hands!

I was having lunch with a client once and got into a musical discussion with him - he loved opera and classical, my tastes leaned more towards rock and jazz. I then made the mistake of saying that "there are only two kinds of music; good music and bad music". He replied that I was only half right; that the two kinds of music were "music you liked and music you didn't". Words of wisdom. Listen to what makes you happy.

Some people lift their nose on pop music because compared to say, a Mozart piece it is much easier to play.

But it is not playing a famous pop song that is difficult, it is creating one that will loved by millions of people and that will play in dozen of countries for decades.

Maybe you can play " Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple on your guitar, but can you write such a hit?

Paul McCartney's " Yesterday" is musically simple but it takes a form of genius to write such a hit, a song that is one of the most or THE most famous on the planet.A different kind of genius than Mozart or Chopin had, but genius none the less.

Composing pop music that people will love is no more easy than composing any other kind of music.

Ok I'm a musician, but this must make sense to non-musicians ...right?